Look at the blue text below and you know what you’re gonna see? Yes, a whole lot of skull emojis. Like a lot. But it happens that each individual one corresponds to a demonstration of the labor of love and community that is the Maryland Doom Festival. From Abel Blood through Zekiah, Maryland Doom Fest 2024 celebrates its 10th anniversary edition with its standard sans-bullshit glut of heavy. Once more the Frederick-based event looks your square in the eye, drops for absolutely immersive days on you and asks if you’re up for it. Well, are ya?

I’m not sure what my summer travel plans are yet — this and Freak Valley have overlapped the last couple years for me — but it’s been since 2019 that I was last down there and oh I’d be so eager to show up and have the three or four people who recognize me (and thus make it feel like an absolute family experience; love love love everywhere you go down there) quietly think to themselves I’ve gotten older and fatter en route to obliterating myself with volume for about 96 hours straight. Fuck. King. A.

Oh, and I hear Thunderbird Divine have new stuff in the works and it’s amazing. So that’s a thing too.

Social media had it like this:

We are super stoked to share with you the Maryland Doom Fest 2024 rosters, schedules, and lineups!!!

#4daysofdoom

THE MARYLAND DOOM FEST 2024

✝️Thursday June 20

Cafe 611-

💀 Thunderhorse
1115-1230
💀 The Magpie
1010-1055
💀 Born of Plagues
905-950
💀 Stone Nomads
800-845
💀 Pyre Fyre
700-740
💀 Dirt Eater
600-640

Olde Mother Brewery-

💀 Spellbook
920-1000
💀 Strange Highways
820-900
💀 Bailjack
720-800
💀 Stone Brew
620-700
💀 Abel Blood
520-600

✝️Friday June 21

Cafe 611-

💀 Diggeth
1215-120
💀 Shadow Witch
1110-1155
💀 Red Beard Wall
1010-1050
💀 CROP
910-950
💀 Almost Honest
810-850
💀 Cobra Whip
715-750
💀 The Crows Eye
620-655
💀 Stereo Christ
525-600

Olde Mother Brewery-

💀 Ten Ton Slug
915-1000
💀 Thousand Vision Mist
815-855
💀 Crowhunter
715-755
💀 Asthma Castle
615-655
💀 Bonded by Darkness
515-555

✝️Saturday June 22

Cafe 611-

💀 WHORES.
1150-115
💀 AGE/S
1040-1130
💀 Bloodshot
935-1020
💀 O ZORN!
830-915
💀 Double Planet
730-810
💀 Sun Years
630-710
💀 When the Deadbolt Breaks
530-610

Olde Mother Brewery-

💀 Black Water Rising
915-1000
💀 Switchblade Jesus
815-855
💀 Wyndrider
715-755
💀 Indus Valley Kings
615-655
💀 Vermillion Whiskey
515-555
💀 Doctor Smoke
415-455

✝️Sunday June 23

Cafe 611-

💀 Cirith Ungol
1200-110
💀 Mythosphere
1055-1140
💀 Conclave
955-1035
💀 Compression
855-935
💀 Sons of Arrakis
755-835
💀 Curse the Son
655-735
💀 Kulvera
555-635
💀 Old Blood
500-535
💀 Cloud Machine
405-440

Olde Mother Brewery-

💀 Thunderbird Divine
920-1000
💀 Black Manta
820-900
💀 High Noon Kahuna
720-800
💀 Unity Reggae
620-700
💀 King Bastard
520-600
💀 Zekiah
420-500

52 bands over a 4 day weekend at 2 venues across the street from one another!!
#4daysofdoom

WEEKEND PASSES: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-maryland-doom-fest-2024-tickets-732298202637?aff=oddtdtcreator

https://www.facebook.com/MdDoomFest/
www.marylanddoomfest.com

Thunderbird Divine, “I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More, Babe” (Barry White cover)

With headlining performances slated from a soon-to-retire Cirith Ungol, noise crushers Whores., mostly-local melodic heavy proggers Mythosphere, Switchblade Jesus, Conclave, Ten Ton Slug (from Ireland; I got to see them one time; way burly; they’ll do well in Frederick), and plenty of other returning acts and newcomers alike, the lineup for Maryland Doom Fest 2024 could hardly be more appropriate a celebration of the annual Chesapeake gathering’s 10th anniversary. Based in Frederick, the four-day ultra-consuming sensory assault of volume will once again take place at Cafe 611 and Olde Mother Brewing, and if you’ve never been, I’ll tell you outright there’s nothing quite like it.

I mean that. Maryland Doom Fest goes harder than the average festival. A day might start at 1PM and not end until 2AM. And now more than ever, as the fest has grown with the two venues running alongside each other, the bill is packed. I think this year was 50 bands? Well, they’ve got 52 for 2024, and while next June is a while out, there’s a tradition to uphold of Halloween announcements, and festival honcho JB Matson (Bloodshot, War Injun, Outside Truth, etc.) pays tribute to his regulars — Shadow Witch, Bailjack, Thunderbird Divine, Thousand Vision Mist (congratulations to Danny Kenyon of Thousand Vision Mist on recently kicking cancer’s ass), among others here — while also giving showcase to outfits like Pyre Fyre, O Zorn! (whose very moniker heralds weirdness), WyndRider and more.

Congrats to Matson and all at Maryland Doom Fest on their 10th anniversary. To do something of this scope once is a lot. To do it across 10 years, well, aside from being fucking crazy, it’s also deeply admirable.

The aforementioned announcement — brief as ever; the poster lands heavy enough to cover any lack of verbiage — follows, courtesy of socials. Ticket link is there too:

WE ARE EXTREMELY PLEASED TO PRESENT TO YOU, THE MARYLAND DOOM FEST 2024 LINEUP!!!!!
THIS WILL BE OUR 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION!!
(#128128#)(#129304#)(#128128#)

52 bands over a 4 day weekend at 2 venues across the street from one another!!
#4daysofdoom

WEEKEND PASSES: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-maryland-doom-fest-2024-tickets-732298202637?aff=oddtdtcreator

https://www.facebook.com/MdDoomFest/
www.marylanddoomfest.com

Ten Ton Slug, Live at Red Crust Festival 2022

John Gist, who is the gentleman behind the promotional company Vegas Rock Revolution and the Planet Desert Rock Weekend festival getting ready to hold its second edition this May, has passion to spare. Passion enough to spread around and have plenty leftover. There’s a little bit of that guy-who-runs-a-fest urgency about him as well — as one would hope for such an event to be successful — but he’s someone who knows his rock and wants everyone else to know it too. The primary driver is passion.

Planet Desert Rock Weekend 2 ups its predecessor this past November in terms of ambition. With a third headliner still to be announced, Gist will bring John Garcia back for a headlining spot and see the other go to Radio Moscow, who will play the first night at Count’s Vamp’d. In addition to this, he’s already got four — one, two, three, four — European bands on the bill in the form of Mr. Bison, Kaiser, Monsternaut and Green Desert Water, and to my knowledge none have played the US before. That’s a significant risk from a booking standpoint — those are good bands, but recall it took Truckfighters half a decade of laying groundwork for their first US tour — but there may indeed be more import acts added as well, since one way or the other, the lineup isn’t done.

Passion rarely is.

Info and links:

The time is near to start announcing Vegas Rock Revolution’s Planet Desert Rock Weekend 2 for May 16-19….

Desert legend John Garcia and 17 bands from all over the country …..very tightly selected lineups to showcase top bands from the long storied history of rock of heavy rock melded with hot younger acts. Oh yeah and cannabis is legal in Vegas !

The Lineup for Planet Desert Rock Weekend v2 so far is:
John Garcia and the Band of Gold — Friday
Radio Moscow — Thurs at Count’s Vamp’d
Nebula
Black Water Rising
Ape Machine Thurs at Count’s Vamp’d
The Watchers – Friday
Red Stone Souls
Sundrifter
RIFFLORD
Shotgun Sawyer
Jason Walker and the Majestic 12

European Showcase Bands:
MR.BISON
Kaiser
Monsternaut
Green Desert Water

Presale Tickets for just $20 for first 100 fans!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/planet-desert-rock-weekend-v2-radio-moscow-tickets-55384782375

Only 300 tickets will be sold to this intimate show in one of the most premier rock clubs in the country. Count’s Vamp’d is owned by Danny “The Count” Koker from Counting Cars on the History Channel. All rock all the time and very good food also. Unique cool environment!

https://www.facebook.com/events/2193967267598051/
https://www.facebook.com/events/545651042582860/
https://www.facebook.com/VRRProductions/
https://www.facebook.com/vegasrockrevolution/

John Garcia and the Band of Gold, Live at Planet Desert Rock Weekend, Nov. 2018